Taban Deng Gai’s long career of abusing power for an endless goal and taking advantage of little guys did not just started but since he observed power in the 1980’s. Those who know Taban, in which myself is included, would agree that this long career of abusing power and taking advantage of little guys did not just start overnight but since when Taban was Itang’s administrator during the liberation war.

In fact, the majority of the South Sudanese are aware of the grimy details of Taban’s infamously governing when he became the Governor of Unity State. As one might expect, Taban claims to represent the interests of the citizenry of this country, as he became the Vice President of South Sudan.

But his governing record reveals a man with a penchant for tyrannizing the little guy and abusing power for his endless goal.

In today’s clannish politics, Ruweng people do not doubt that Taban will do everything he can to achieve his pathetic goal, but his pathetic objective including Wath Danluel, will not be achieved during our generation’s time.

It is very important to bring to the public attention that the abuse of power and the marginalization of our people by Taban and his likes as much as we could so the people of this country would understand what we have been dealing with all these years.

Now, it seems blindingly obvious to me that the government of South Sudan need not only to offer a position to people like Taban, but different solutions to solve our chronic problems like resources and land to satisfy these people needs.

With that being said, T’m getting sick and tired of these people like Taban taking advantage of the little guy and do whatever it takes to achieve their goals.

Subsequently, we woke up Thursday morning, still grieving with an emptiness that, unfortunately Ruweng people have come to know far too well that Governor Theji Da Adwad Deng has resigned from his Party SPLM in Opposition due to the fact that Taban has started bullying him about the piece of land he occupied in Ruweng State since 2005.

Nevertheless, Ruweng people have woken up that morning wondering what will it take to end this ugly scourge of Taban’s marginalization and taking advantage of little guy all these years without jeopardizing the peace agreement.

However, marginalization and taking advantage of little guy in South Sudan is entrenched in the fabric of those who are faithful to the government and it has become a weapon used often by people like Taban to wear down their opponents.

More importantly, once we became pseudo-free, we no longer serve a purpose and so the time for action for Ruweng people is now if Taban attempts to replace Governor Adwad.

As a result, Ruweng people must come together and combat the marginalization and bullying of our people once and for all. As we are aware of the situation, we cannot remain silent because Taban will never ever stop until we act quickly.

People like Taban have to learn once and for all that every single human being is a human being like him and Nhialic (God) of Ruweng has given has us that land, which it cannot be taken away from us until all Ruweng people have stopped breathing.

Given the situation in South Sudan, it is true that marginalization has become a culture and it is just another form of colonization that has been used to marginalize communities across South Sudan.

People like Taban think that if marginalization is used wisely, it might actually work in a certain situation, but let me assure you all including Taban himself it will never work in Ruweng State. Incorporating marginalization into daily life is what has helped escalate senseless war in South Sudan few years ago.

And so how we get past this era and start to look at people as human beings instead of bunch something known to them, I cannot tell you, but what I can tell you is this, people like Taban cannot take advantage of our people because his boss Riek Machar has tried twice and failed.

Therefore, I have no idea how to change the way people take advantage of little guy, but surely, we will change the way Taban think soon if he is still advancing his pathetic agenda.

I will say having leaders in our country that have an attitude of revenge does not help anything, it is the Taban’s who will never help in the peace process.

Thoughtful as usual, we are certainly not without our own problems in Ruweng State, but so far, we have managed to stay reasonably civil with each other. While our people have, on rare occasion stepped over the line, for the most part conflicts are resolved peacefully and our people do a good job to live in peace with our neighbors.

It is disheartening as a Ruweng citizen, to see the turmoil that seems to pervade other parts of our country at the moment. While we have some important differences, we are much more alike than unlike and seeing this animosity among our people is troubling.

In fact, the problem we are dealing with is not just the politicians like Taban in Juba, but the real problem is the South Sudanese people who emotionally jump on bandwagons and fail to critically analyze the person they’re supporting like Taban.

It seems to me that most of Taban’s supporters are following him based solely on the fact that he is going to reward them with jobs in the government. His appeal is simply that he is perceived as a colorful individual that has commitment to anything life.

Yet, for most of his governing career, Taban has betrayed the very people from whom he is now trying to convince them to achieve his pathetic goal for him. His views appear more in line with those of Adolf Hitler of Germany.

Taban’s supporters purposely overlook his criminal records, dereliction of power, and unabashed pandering. It is well know that Taban’s views change with the political climate.

However, this is a fragment of a problem, but the problem is the people who are supporting him. They completely dismiss the lack of moral and ethical integrity displayed in Taban’s world.

These people supporting Taban are the same people who supported Riek Machar twice. We all know the history of South Sudan and the injustices and marginalization our people starting with the Ruweng people. Nevertheless, this is our country, our people in Ruweng State put their blood, sweat and tears to liberate this country and we have lost half of our population by fighting Khartoum regime.

Ultimately, part of this resignation is shocking because Taban is known for abusing power and bullying.

Finally, any attempt to remove Governor Theji Da Adwad Deng from the governorship post will allow our full operations to liberate ourselves from this too long mistreatment and to allow normality to return to the land of a peace-loving people.

Though I don’t agree to use the war to achieve the end goal, but war happens when people like ours are neglected and their grievances are being ignored all the time. Furthermore, these exercises are also a way of defending and liberating ourselves from this long suffering that will never expire until our people rise against this status quo.

As the fact indicates, we will give this peace a chance to materialize, but on the other hand, we will not take a break until our people are no longer worried about the threat of Taban in Ruweng part of the world.

More importantly, this is a reminder to all friends of Ruweng people, be informed that if Governor Adwad is being removed, we are capable to do the unthinkable and we will also be talking to anybody in the entire world including the number one enemy of South Sudan, Omer El Bashir, to help us to achieve our end goal.

It is not secret because we have been suffering for too long and we cannot leave this suffering and threat to our children. The entire people of South Sudan have no idea what the hell is going on in Ruweng State, it is good if people have a leader that cares about them, but our people in Ruweng State nowadays cannot seriously think they are completely under the care of this government where Taban is a Vice President.

There is probably a lot more to it, I’m not a politician, but repeating Pathou (Heglig, the oil-rich area taken over by Sudan), my birth place’s mistake will be a huge mistake to the entire South Sudanese people, because most of the resources in South Sudan are located in our local area and without hesitation we can at least make a deal with any body in the world including the enemy of South Sudan.

Let that be clear. Yes, marginalization is a hell of a lot more common across South Sudan than we like to admit because we are not allowed to report what is really happening in the country, and certainly, this pseudo gets a special award for his abuse of power on an endless goal and taking advantage of little guys must stop once and for all.

Santino Aniek is a concerned South Sudanese in Upstate New York, U.S.A. He can be reached at santino.aniek5@gmail.com and find me on Facebook, on Skype and on twitter @saniek.

10 Comments

To hell with your unsubstantiated claims. Don’t blame GatNyaKek, the South Sudan’s First Vice Presidente General Gai NyaKek for your mess in Ruweng. He absolutely has nothing to do with your miserable failure to annex Bul-Nuer’s ancestry land to Ruweng. South Sudan’s FVP GatNyaKek don’t have troops to help you forcefully annex Bul-Nuer’s land to yours. Provide him with troops to accomplish your mission(the forceful annexation of Bul-Nuer’s ancestry land to the traitorous Jenges Ruweng’s land). Otherwise, if you, the traitorous Ruweng Jenges cannot do that, then shut up, or talk to General Puljang and Dr. Nguen Minytuil. They are the commanders of the people who overwhelmingly-deadly refuses their ancestry lands to be annexed to yours( the pseudo Ruweng State) by force.

The land in question isn’t named after Arabic nouns. The names sound indigenous. As the land lies within in the territorial integrity of South Sudan,its native names must have been derived from a certain tribe which lives or used to dwell there. So, the nouns:Wath Danluel certainly mean something specific in a local dialect.If Wath Danluel are in the vocabulary of Bull Nuer,then the land is theirs But if not,it belongs to Ruweng as both tribes don’t speak one dialect.

Go ahead and forcefully evicts Bul-Nuer from Wath Danluel. Who doesn’t know that you, the traitorous Jenges are accustomed of renaming other tribes’ lands. You’ve Jebel Dinka in Juba and Amer in Madiland. Pretty soon you will unashamedly claim these Equatorians’ lands are yours simply because you’ve renamed them in Dinka dialect names. You will argue that these areas are named in Dinka Dialect, and thus, must be Dinka lands!

There is nothing wrong with naming certain places after some people. This is done as tribute in respect to people who are friends. I’m pretty sure those who know this place as Jebel Dinka aren’t Dinkas but people from Equatoria in solidarity.The reason for naming this place after Dinkas was perhaps because Dinkas were killed there or it is the place where they get some rest from long journeyst or their culture is found there in abundance. In the USA for instance,there is a place called Chinatown. It is where you find most people from China, their cuisine and costumes. I’m not from the USA but my hunt for knowledge on the net and seeing films established this experience handy.The naming of the place after China isn’t wasn’t the taking of some parts of the U.S by Chinese but friendly tribute to them by their American friends. Americans never mistook this as annexation of their land. The Americans get such mateship in countries from where such people come. In regards to the disputed land in Unity State, please define to other people what Wath Danluel is and whether the name exists in Nuer dialect or not. Tell the people as well, if the place belongs to Bull Nuer or Ruweng per the knowledge of previous governments of the present Sudan as opposed to South Sudan or is it simply a recently created enclave by the Dinka led government of South Sudan. As for your description which designates Dinkas as traitors, tell me and other readers an example where people who initiated the SPLM/A with you, including other Sudanese had abandoned you and your uncle Dr Riek Machar as well as your loyalists in battlefields and joined the main enemy – the former whole Sudan in the history which commenced in 1983 up to the drawn line of peace which came into effect in 2002. I am convinced you have no example to give as I think so. The real weakest links in the history of struggle for South Sudan have always been Dr Machar,you his followers and others who have joined him in causing troubles today. The deceased Former, Dr John Garang and the incumbent President, Kiir Mayardit were ones of those who initiated the struggle with other marginalised sudanese but never wavered side to side until the independence of South Sudan is achieved. Dr Garang passed on a hero and the current serving President Kiir has brought us to the promised land while remaining loyal to the good cause of South Sudanese. If there are traitorous losers, it is those like you and your uncle who have always been disloyal to the marginalised Sudanese and South Sudanese in their struggle. It remains a reality the first president was Dr Garang and the current as Kiir. There is nothing you can do to reverse this historical fact as a tyrant.

Killer nyankiir isn’t a hero but a career killer. Never negotiated shit with Al Bashir. He was supposed to be stationed and work in the office of the F.V.P in Khartoum during the five years referendum period(2005_2010). Instead, the traitorous-incompetent fool spent those years in Juba– he never set foot in the FVP office in Khartoum. Dr.Riek did all the negotiations which ultimately let to the secession of South Sudan from the rest of Sudan.

President Kiir is a living hero. He fought in Anya Anya I and II. All these movements have been for the good causes – to liberate the marginalised people he belongs and never deserted these people. After Dr Garang left for other hunting grounds, Kiir spared no efforts to bring us to the promised land. He deserves the credits for being the usual loyalist to South Sudanese and the success of the independence from Sudan. He makes Dr Garang and all South Sudanese proud. The SPLM/A was formed in Southern Sudan with Kiir as one of its founding fathers. Kiir’s home is Southern Sudan. His people and army are in South Sudan. Why would a man with everything in South Sudan was wished to have been confined in Khartoum where he had no stronghold constituents – the very people he devoted himself to liberate from Al Bashir? It was irrelevant for him to have stayed in Khartoum. His decision to reside in Juba was wise and laudable. He wanted his constituents to be in constant touch with him. He couldn’t have served people in Southern Sudan while he was in the remote capital city like Khartoum where only few Southern Sudanese were. He needed a room where he can talk to the Western leaders about the CPA’s transitional issues without Bashir looking over his shoulder and that spacious place was juba. Just because he was FVP, it didn’t mean he had to re-negotiate every thing with Bashir. Kiir had his own team of negotiators he sent to express the position he saw favourable to all South Sudanese at roundtable talks.His decision to stay in Juba was to prevent the demands of South Sudanese being bogged down in Khartoum and his decision to dwell in Juba was a signal to the world’s leaders who helped brokered the CPA that things weren’t working out as wanted between the FVP and President Bashir. He had to be in Juba as a home where he could recall his members of the joined transitional team to, as a sign of protest against Khartoum in case anything is dishonored. Such actions in turn put pressure on Khartoum while raising the alarm to other peace stakeholders regionally and internationally. Kiir’s staying in Juba even gave him the opportunity to visit President Bush Jr to whom he bolster things with, before his terms came to end in Washington DC. What good would Kiir’s staying in Khartoum could have achieved? Haven’t you learnt some lessons why your 1997’s failed to succeed,given the fact that Dr Machar signed it in Khartoum and stayed there with Bashir before he realised he was cheated? As for you attempt to give Dr Machar all the credits for negotiations and success of the plebiscite, This is ignorant. Dr Machar’s contributions don’t outweigh individual contributions of Dr Garang, Dhial Deng and Kiir. Most of negotiations were exhausted by Dr Garang and Dhial. Kiir did refocusing, consultations, adherence to timetables and sticking to power sharing model, and overseeing referendum. If there was anything Dr Garang left undone,it was nothing but polishing and holding the plebiscite on the deadline.He was going to finish it the way we did it but God called him off his duty before he celebrated this accomplishment with all South Sudanese.

As long dumb nyagaats Nuers like Gatdarwich. Keep giving Riek Machar credits that belong to other people to Riek who almost let Arabs defeat us during the war of liberation, nothing good will happen in our country. Because shame is dead in the skins of nyagaat like Gatdarwich.

You likes will never accept the fact that Dr. Riek is actually the real father of South Sudan, and absolutely the real living hero in South Sudan. Killer NyanKiir, the traitorous Jenges Council of Evils, Kuol, and Malong–none of them have never seated or participated in the negotiation of the South Sudan separation process with Al Bashir. Dr. Riek did it all by himself. Not only that, Dr. Riek personally negotiated the current status of Abyei with the Sudanese government in Gevena. Please don’t let your tribal hatred toward the real father of the South Sudan, Dr. Riek, blinded you in acknowledging the heroic achievements Dr. Riek made in South Sudan. Whether your traitorous likes believe it or not, Dr. Riek is next Mandela of South Sudan.

God, Gatdarwich. When your uncle Riek was in Khartoum sitting in Omar Bashir cabinet meetings, Sudan army forces were clearing oil field of Nuer, Dinkas, and Challo people in Upper Nile. Is it the Riek you called a” living hero” ? That is why I said that shame is dead in the skins of people like you Gatdarwich. Riek came back like a run away woman who did not find a man she has been dreaming in 2002 when CPA was close to be sign, for your information if you were inside Sudan at that time or some where else. What make a man who sign a peace from with in with Omar Bashir a living hero.? I will answer you, because you are a blind Nyagaat who don’t see far a way.